The ''Marie Skłodowska-Curie Medallion'' is one panel from a set of four created by Jozef C. Mazur. It honors

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

and currently resides in the Polish Room at the

University at Buffalo Libraries The University at Buffalo Libraries is the university library system of the University at Buffalo. The library's collections includes some 3.8 million print volumes, as well as media, and special collections. The Libraries subscribe to some 350 re ...

History

On August 3, 1955, the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

created the Polish Room. Polish-American artist Jozef C. Mazur was hired to plan and decorate the room. Items included a set of four

stained-glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

medallion A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

s depicting famous Poles. At some point between the founding and when the Polish Room was moved in 1978, the medallions went missing. In 2007 the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Medallion was found for sale on

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

alumnus Gregory Witul. Witul was able to coordinate the return of the medallion to the University. A formal re-dedication was held on November 4, 2007. On April 6, 2008 Witul received the Am-Pol Eagle Citizen of the Year Award for Heritage for finding and coordinating the return of the medallion and Peter Miecyjak received the Am-Pol Eagle Citizen of the Year Award for Youth in part for organizing the re-dedication.

References

Polish-American history Stained glass windows Cultural depictions of Marie Curie University at Buffalo 1955 works {{Glass-art-stub